


How they escaped

by julietRichan



Series: Soldier&Mage [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Magic, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-07 02:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julietRichan/pseuds/julietRichan
Summary: His mate is in the private hospital in Stark Tower and Bucky is worried. Steve and Tony convince him to tell the story of how he and Harper broke out of the enchanted cottage.





	1. You never told us

**Author's Note:**

> By popular demand (and I needed a pick-me-up), I am posting the first chapter! I'm working on the rest but wanted to get this posted. 
> 
>  
> 
> A/N - I'm not sure if this was explained very well in the previous story... Harper uses ze/zir pronouns even though they are physically male. Harper used magic to change zir anatomy, transitioning from female to male, but still prefers neutral pronouns. I don't feel the need to explain the background on Harper, and why they are the way they are, as it isn't important to the story, but I wanted to be sure everyone understood since I have this as an M/M story with a neutral pronoun character.

Bucky paces in the oversized waiting room in Stark Tower. 

"Buck," Steve tries again, "They're going to be fine." It is probably his fifth time in as many minutes to try and calm the other man down.

"What if something happens?" Bucky growls. 

"Nothing is going to happen Bucky," Steve assures his friend, "Harper's strong, you know that. You trained zir, remember?"

Bucky stops his back and forth pacing. He looks over at Steve. Sometimes Bucky has to stop himself from blinking at the sight of the grown man. His mind would say that Steve was still a five foot four twig, but his eyes say that Steve is a nearly six-foot soldier. "I can't lose zir, Stevie. Ze’s... I..."

"Ze's your husband and anchor," Steve finishes for him. "I get it. I know how you feel right now." 

Bucky just runs his flesh hand through his hair, tugging on it. "They could die and I... I don't think I'd be able to take it, Steve."

Just then Stark strolls through the door.

"Now's not a good time Tony," Steve sighs as the inventor joins them.

Tony holds his hands up, "Not here to pick a fight Capsicle. I came to support Barnes." He sits down in a chair opposite Steve.

Bucky flashes him a glare but doesn't stop pacing. 

"So, Terminator, how did you and Harry Potter break out of the magical cottage?" Tony asks in a seemingly lazy manner. 

Catching on quickly, Steve adds, "You only spoke of how you met but never how you got to the tower." He huffs, "And I had to drag the first story out of you."

Barking a laugh, Bucky replies, "It involved a goat, three blue clovers, and Harper's left toe."   

The two other men are silent until Tony exclaims, "That was a joke! You just made a joke!"

Bucky smirks, flopping down on the couch next to Steve. "No one will believe you," He tells the older man. 

"JARVIS?"

"I have recorded the event and put a copy on your private servers," The AI replies.

Tony grins.

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Bucky growls. 

Both men look intensely eager, and Bucky fights to not point out that they are acting like children and how old are they again?

Taking a breath, Bucky begins, “It was an accident, Harper told me later.”

 

 

 


	2. A way out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins...

A shout from Harper caused Yakov to jump. They were in the basement lab, each doing their own thing. Harper had made tools for Yakov to work on his mechanical arm once it was deemed safe to have the technology around magic. The soldier cleaned his arm once a week in the lab and did minor adjustments when necessary. The Mage was working on zir own projects, mostly trying to find a way out of the enchanted clearing that kept them trapped.

"Sorry," Harper apologized, "But I think I just made a breakthrough on how to get us out of here!"  

Yakov chuckled, returning to his cleaning. He knew that Harper would be a while before coming back up for air and explaining everything. Sure enough, just as he was finishing the sandwiches for dinner, Harper stumbled into the kitchen. He set the plates down on the table before guiding the younger resident over to the table.

“Bless you, you beautiful beautiful man,” Harper moaned as ze took a bite.

“So I’m beautiful now am I?” Yakov chuckled as he sat to eat his own sandwich.

Harper glared at the soldier, “You know what I mean.”

“You’re welcome.” He ruffled the Mage’s hair, careful to not tangle the plates of his metallic hand in the tan locks.

“Hey!” Harper protested, but still grabbed Yakov’s hand and kissed his fingertips. It always surprised the ex-assassin how comfortable Harper was around his metal arm. 

“Eat your sandwich,” Yakov grumbled with a smile in his voice.

When they were done, Harper did the dishes while Yakov grabbed blankets to sit outside on the porch swing. It had become sort of a tradition, since their first kiss, to sit on the porch after dinner and talk about the day or whatever crossed their minds. It had been getting colder as the months turned from summer to fall, but a few spelled blankets kept Harper warm – as Yakov “runs like a heater” in Harper’s words – and the porch kept out what little snow fell in the early months. 

“Thank you,” the Mage said as ze slipped under the offered blanket.

Yakov tucked the smaller male under his arm and indulged in a long slow kiss. Their relationship hadn’t gotten any further than kissing, sweet words at night under the stars, and the occasional sleeping (actually sleeping) together. “You said you might have found a way out?” He asked once they broke for air.

Harper snuggled closer to Yakov’s side, “Possibly. I found a crack in the wall, so to speak. I may be able to make it big enough for us to get out, maybe make a permanent hole if we want to come back someday.”

“How long?” He asked, running his hand through Harper’s hair.

Harper leaned into the caress, zir eyes fluttering shut, “A month, maybe two, possibly more. It’ll take a lot of power to even have a small effect. I can augment my power with some crystals I’ve stored up, but to make a gap wide enough I’ll probably have to drain myself to the point of passing out. If we time it right, I can use some of Earth’s natural magic to make a permanent hole and make it invisible to everyone but us. It’ll be tricky, and I’ll have to rely on you to get us out once the hole is created, but with some more research and a bit of luck… we can do this.”

Yakov nodded. He had read a few of the magic books scattered about the cottage and knew the moon had some effect on magic. “The next blue moon is in three months,” He replied.

Harper sighed, “Yeah. So we have three months to get ready.”

“What do you need?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Harper burrowed further into Yakov’s side. “Ask me tomorrow night. I’ll have a better idea then.”

Yakov kissed the top of Harper’s head, “As you wish.”

Harper snorted, “Sap.”

“Your sap.”

“Hum, true.”   


	3. Exhaustion and Sleepy-times

Harper was up with Yakov at dawn. While the soldier went about his morning workout routine, the mage hunkered down in the lab to research what the two companions needed to break free of their unintentional prison.

Days passed. Since he only had a novice grasp of magic, Yakov couldn’t be much help in the breaking out department. So the ex-assassin made up for his inability to help with magic and made sure that Harper ate and got sleep when he could pry the mage away from zir books.

As time passed, Harper got less and less sleep. Ze started to only nibble on the food when Yakov forced zir to but stopped once he was gone. By the fifth day, Harper had dark bags under zir eyes, zir face was pale and strained. Yakov had changed from solid food to shakes in hopes that the convenience would make eating easier for Harper by the sixth day. But a week and a half after Harper’s initial discovery, ze crashed.

“Harper!” Yakov rushed into the lab after hearing a crack. Harper was laying on the stone floor, sobbing. The table ze had been working at was in splinters. “Harper? What happened?” He picked his way through the scattered books and notes, till Yakov was by the mage’s side.

“I-I can’t… I just can’t find a way to get us out,” the young mage sobbed. “No matter what I try. It just doesn’t work.”

Yakov shook his head, “Come on. Let’s get you a hot bath and some sleep. You’ll figure it out, just give it time.” He scooped the smaller person up and carried zir to his bathroom. Yakov knew that while he was welcome in Harper’s room, something said that the mage wanted to be surrounded by Yakov’s scent. Setting the mage on the toilet, Yakov started a bath. He gently helped Harper out of zir clothes, and then lowered zir into the warm water.

Harper sniffled, rubbing the last few tears out of zir eyes, “Why are you so good to me?”

“Because I love you.” Yakov replied with a soft huff, “Because you saved me. Because of so many reasons and more.” He kissed Harper’s nose when the mage gave a sleepy smile in response.

Once Harper was clean and dressed in one of Yakov’s shirts, the pair curled up in Yakov’s bed and slept. Sometime during the night, Yakov draped himself over Harper protectively, making a cocoon of warmth around the exhausted mage. Harper didn’t mind the weight, as it made zir feel protected and loved.      

 

Yakov woke with the morning light, as was his custom. But that morning, he remained in bed. He looked down at the smaller male. Harper so rarely slept in his presence, it was always a gift to see the relaxed, younger-looking face. Lifting his hand, Yakov ran his metal fingers through short hair, amazed at the power of magic. After finding that Harper’s magic had no negative impact on the mechanical arm, the mage had spelled the entire thing waterproof and then, at Yakov’s request, made it so nothing would catch on the plates of his hand, allowing Yakov to run his fingers through Harper’s hair without care or worry of hair getting tangled. Though, he was still careful out of habit more than anything.

“Magic,” He huffed, “who would have thought.”

Harper shifted slightly but remained asleep. Yakov smiled. It was almost 7 months to the day when the Soldier had first stumbled into the clearing that held his savior. So much had changed. But, Yakov reminded himself, Harper had magic on zir side and living so close to someone almost 24/7 would change any person quickly. Then again, not many people would be willing to exhaust themselves to near death for another, even if it meant that they would also benefit from the sacrifice. His bond with Harper might seem strange to some, but Yakov believed it to be fate that drew them together.  

Harper shifted, snuggling closer to Yakov. Ze sniffed, nose scrunching a way that Yakov always found adorable before green eyes blinked open.

“Feel better?” He asked in a soft voice, chuckling when the only reply he got was a sleepy nod. Harper always had trouble with noise first thing in the morning, so Yakov did his best to speak quietly as possible till the young mage had fully woken up and was back to being verbal. “Sleep as long as you need, dear heart. I won’t leave.”

“’m-kay,” Was the muffled reply. Harper seemed to burry zirself under Yakov, not that Yakov minded. Indeed, he just adjusted their positions to be more comfortable before closing his eyes and letting himself rest a short while longer.  

 


End file.
